Heading into the Death Ride

I have some advice for everybody participating in the Death Ride this weekend: jump in the icy lake at the top of Ebbetts Pass.

Leander Kahney

Steve (far left) with his daughter and wife taking a paddle in Tenaya Lake.

Yes, the lake is half covered by an ice-flow and the water will freeze your cleats off, but that’s the point. A quick dip will lower your core temperature and cool your tired, swollen legs.

Ebbetts Pass is one of the major mountains in the Death Ride, an annual sufferefest that attracts 3,000 – 4,000 masochists to test their mettle over 130 miles and 15,000 feet of climbing. Ebbetts is a bitch of a climb: a long and steep test of fitness and endurance that’s tough for strong riders, let alone fat blobs like me.

I’ve been training for the the Death Ride since February with the LLS’s Team in Training program to raise money for blood cancer research. I missed last weekend’s big final training ride with the team (130 miles through Marin with 13,000ft of climbing) so I rode with a couple of buddies through the mountains near Yosemite instead.

We departed early from Camp Mather (San Francisco’s city-run family camp near Hetch Hetchy) to Tenaya Lake. It’s a 100 mile round trip. You pass through some amazingly beautiful mountain country, which I barely noticed because I was staring at their sweaty butts all day. It’s about 10,000ft of climbing. None of it is particularly steep but it is pretty much relentlessly uphill for the first 50 miles. It’s a long, long grind.

The other two riders — Steve and Mike — are much stronger than me, and they chatted and loafed while my heartbeat was working at 160 beats a minute — about 85-90 percent of my maximum. At one point I filled my Camelbak (I started with it only a quarter filled) and when we got back on the road, Mike and Steve took off. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t catch them. Thankfully, they slowed for me, but I was shocked what a difference a pound or two of water made.

By the time we reached Tenaya Lake the air was crisp and thin. We could feel the altitude and were starving hungry. I was very fatigued after hours of peddling and my ass was on fire — my butt hurt like hell. Steve’s wife and daughter kindly drove up to bring us sandwiches and water.

On the advice of Steve, I pulled my shorts up to my crotch and tottered stiff-legged into Tenaya’s freezing water. It was so cold, it hurt. I inched in slowly up to my nuts. In situations like this, I prefer to jump in, get it over with. But my legs were so stiff and sore, I could only hobble like a stiff, wooden Pinnochio.

Twenty minutes in the water made an amazing difference. The stiffness subsided and my legs loosened up. I was really dreading the ride home (for miles, I’d been secretly fantasizing about hitching a ride back) — but once I was back on the bike, I felt great. My legs felt fresh and strong. Yeah, the return trip was mostly downhill, but we stormed it.

Mike is also doing the Death Ride, and says he’ll be jumping in the Ebbetts lake, riding kit and all. He’s done the Death Ride three times, and taken a dip each time. He’s the only person in the entire field to do so, he says. But while some of his ride buddies in years past have failed to finish the course, he’s completed it every time: a feat he credits with his frigid dip. I believe him.

So, if you’re tackling Ebbetts Pass on Saturday, do yourself a favor and join us in the icy water at the top of the pass. Yeah, you’ll look crazy, but your legs will thank you.